Joe grinned. "I"ve got news for you, Johnny - we"ve cracked the code."
As the boy exclaimed in delight, Hanleigh groaned and put his head on the table.
"As soon as the storm dies down, we"ll start hunting," Frank said. "If the collection is here, we"ll find it."
They remained in the kitchen for warmth and managed to s.n.a.t.c.h a couple of hours" sleep. The rest of the night pa.s.sed fitfully.
Shortly after daybreak, Frank awoke and stretched his aching muscles. Noticing that the wind had abated, he opened the door to the big room. Things were topsy-turvy and under a blanket of snow. "The fireplace of the chimney first," he thought. Returning to the kitchen, he awakened the others. "Rise and shine, fellows! We have some treasure hunting to do, remember ?"
After a quick breakfast, Frank said, "Joe - Biff, how about giving me a boost up the fireplace chimney?"
Frank turned on his flashlight and started to crawl into the fireplace.
At that moment the front door burst open. Two men stepped in.
"Hold it!" said a sharp voice. "You"re under arrest! All of you!"
CHAPTER XX.
The Hazardous Search WHIRLING in astonishment, the boys saw two sternfaced harbour policemen striding towards them through the debris in the living-room.
The Hardys recognized them as Lieutenant Daley and Officer Thorne.
"We"re taking you all into custody!" barked Daley. "Where"s the stolen ice-yacht?"
At that moment Hanleigh appeared at the kitchen door. "What"s going on?" he asked, then gasped at the sight of the policemen. Despite his injured leg, he bolted for the back door.
Frank and Joe dashed forward and seized him. "Here"s your thief, Lieutenant Daley," Joe said as they hustled the big man into the living-room.
The officer stared, astonished, upon recognizing the brothers. "The Hardys!" Daley exclaimed. "Didn"t know you at first. You all look a little beat up."
Joe introduced the others. "We"ve been roughing it and trying to solve a couple of mysteries."
"They solved them, too," Chet put in proudly.
Johnny Jefferson stepped forward. "That"s true," he said. "Frank and Joe and their pals have been working on a case for my grandfather, Elroy Jefferson."
"Then you must be Johnny Jefferson!" Lieutenant Daley exclaimed.
"Yes, the Hardys found me."
"Well, I"ll be a frozen rookie!" Officer Thorne burst out. "We"ve been on the lookout for you!"
"Leave it to the Hardys," said Daley, tilting back his hat and scratching his head. "A couple of chips off the old block. How"s your dad?"
"Fine," Frank replied, then told their story which included the wrecking of the Hawk. Handcuffs were snapped on Hanleigh.
"You can"t take me to jail," he argued. "I"m a sick man."
"You"ll be taken care of," Daley said firmly.
"By the way," Joe spoke up, "who accused us of stealing the ice-yacht?"
Lieutenant Daley explained that an anonymous phone call to headquarters had reported the theft, and revealed that the culprits were hiding on Cabin Island.
"Ike or Tad made that call, no doubt," Frank said.
Biff grinned. "Those two would be burned up if they knew they"d done us a favour tipping off the police."
Chet gave a wry chuckle. "Those guys will have a real surprise when they see the Hawk."
Daley added, "We didn"t want to bother Mr Jefferson until we found out what was going on here, so we came straight over."
Hanleigh declared he was unable to walk. The police were unsympathetic. "You seemed to manage okay when you were trying to get away," Daley said. "So you certainly can hike across the cove to where our squad car is parked."
The lieutenant smiled at Johnny. "We"ll tell your grandfather you"re safe and in good hands."
Johnny pleaded that he himself wished to surprise his grandfather. "Besides, I want to take him his medals. I know the Hardys can find them."
"We"ll give it a good try," Frank promised.
The two policemen agreed to keep the secret, and left with their prisoner, who complained bitterly as he was escorted from the cabin.
Without further delay the boys gathered round the hearth. "Now for the rosewood box!" exclaimed Joe, and went for a metal tape measure he had seen in the toolbox.
"What do you look for first?" Biff asked.
"A loose stone, nine feet up the front," Frank replied. He ducked into the soot-blackened fireplace and stood up. "Lucky it"s a wide chimney," he remarked, picking up his flashlight. "Well, here goes. Give me a boost, somebody."
Biff crouched down in the fireplace and Frank sat astride his broad shoulders. Slowly Biff stood up, grasping his friend"s legs. Frank unwound the tape, and with the aid of his flashlight, found the nine-foot level. He marked this off with chalk and handed the tape to Biff.
Then Frank began testing the stones in order from right to left. All felt tightly in place, but suddenly Frank touched a joint of cement which crumbled beneath his fingers.
"This looks much lighter in colour," he observed, "as if too much sand was used in the mix."
"Any luck?" cam Joe"s eager voice from below.
"Not yet. But I"ve come across something I want to investigate."
"Need help?"
"You can hold this light."
Joe squirmed in beside Biff and took the flashlight from his brother. Frank drew out his penknife and inserted the blade tip into the cement, which surrounded a large oblong stone. The substance fell off readily. Frank then grasped the rock and pulled hard. It gave a little.
"Hey!" exclaimed Joe. "What"s cooking?"
"I"m not sure," Frank replied, "but I"ve just dug out some cement I think was mixed by an amateur."
"Sparewell?"
"Yes. He must have cemented the back of this rock, though. I need a lever."
"Hold on. I"ll get something."
Joe hurried to bring the chisel. Frank placed it beneath the rock and worked the tool up and down.
Finally the big stone moved. Now Frank used the chisel on both sides, prying the rock loose still more.
Again he pulled hard on it. This time the stone came out in his hands. Quickly he gave it to Joe, who beamed the light upwards into the s.p.a.ce. Frank saw that his guess had been correct! Working carefully, he succeeded in extracting a long, flat box.
"I"ve found it!" he gasped.
Frank scrambled down from Biff"s shoulders and the trio emerged from the fireplace with sooty grins of triumph. Breathless, Frank flipped open the catch and raised the lid. Set in velvet was an array of handsome, gleaming medals!
For a moment all the boys stared at the treasure, then Chet exclaimed, "Wow! They"re real beauties!"
Biff pounded the Hardys on the back while Johnny burst out, "Frank and Joe, you"re the world"s greatest detectives!"
His face shining with joy, he urged that they return to Bayport immediately. "I can"t wait to give the medals to Gramp."
"We ought to clean up some of this damage before we go," Frank said.
"Chet and I will take care of that," Biff volunteered. "We"ll board up the broken window and sweep out the snow and debris."
Frank grinned. "Okay, then. As soon as Joe and I wash this chimney dirt off and change clothes, we"ll hit the road."
"I wish we could whiz home in your ice-yacht," Johnny said, "but it"s impossible with all that snow."
"We"ll come back for the Seagull when the ice is clear," said Joe. "You can ride in it then."
In a short time the Hardys were trudging across the cove with Johnny between them, clutching the rosewood box.
On the main road they hitched a ride to the Hardy boathouse. The trio were just about to climb into the convertible when Joe spotted a familiar car pulling into the parking area.
"It"s Dad!" he exclaimed. The boys hurried to meet Mr Hardy.
The investigator smiled broadly upon being introduced to Johnny Jefferson and learning of the successful outcome of the Cabin Island mystery. "Great work!" he praised his sons, and added, "I"ll confess I"ve been uneasy ever since I sent that message and left you the note at home. So when I returned today I decided to go to the island, even if I had to hike!"
"You were right, Dad, about Hanleigh. He was out to get us," Frank declared. "Where did you learn about him?"
"I asked Chief Collig to brief me on the Christmas night break-in at Mr Jefferson"s," Mr Hardy explained.
"Shortly after you boys had left on your camping trip, the fingerprint report came back. So I hurried to the dock here, hoping one of your friends would give me a lift.
"Just then I saw an ice-yacht put in by our boathouse. I recognized the Nash and Carson boys aboard and soon realized the big blond man with them was Hanleigh. They were talking loudly about you and made some pretty nasty threats. They were gone before I could nab Hanleigh myself."
"So you sent Mack Malone to warn us!" Joe said.
"Right," his father replied. He had alerted Chief Collig and the Bayport squad had been on the lookout for Hanleigh. "He was a crafty customer with that ice-yacht," Mr Hardy said, "and gave everybody the slip until you fellows nailed him."
The famous detective also told the boys that before leaving home he had received directly from Chief Collig word of Hanleigh"s arrest. The prisoner had made a formal confession-to taking the Hawk, breaking into Mr Jefferson"s house, and scheming to steal the medals. "He also admitted the attack on Joe," Mr Hardy Concluded.
"What about Ike and Tad?" Frank asked solemnly. "They won"t be charged as accomplices, since they did not know what Hanleigh was up to," Mr Hardy replied.
"But twice those two tried to wreck our boat," Joe said hotly. "And they accused us of stealing the Hawk!"
"I know," said Mr Hardy. "But both say they were only joking. Don"t worry," the detective added with a grin, "Chief Collig gave them a stiff lecture. They won"t dare get out of line for a long time."
Frank smiled. "Anyway, they"ll be too busy repairing their ice-yacht to make any more trouble."
A short time later the Hardys and Johnny stood at the front door of the Jefferson home.
As Frank reached towards the doorbell, Johnny cried out, "Wait! I-I can"t go in! Gramp will be angry!"
"No, he"ll be happy to see you," Frank rea.s.sured the younger boy. "Besides, you have a surprise for him, remember?"
Johnny gazed at the rosewood box he held tightly and smiled. "You"re right."
Frank rang the bell. When Mr Jefferson answered, he stared at his grandson incredulously. "Johnny!" The old man"s voice rang with joy.
The Hardys stood by beaming as they witnessed the happy reunion. It was not until they were seated that Mr Jefferson became aware of the box Johnny carried.
Mr Jefferson was so overcome with emotion that it was several moments before he could speak. He turned to Frank and Joe.
"How has all this happened?" he asked, taking the box and opening the lid.
As the young sleuths and Johnny rapidly recited the amazing events, Mr Jefferson sat back in the crimson velvet chair, stroking the medals and looking affectionately at Johnny. "Wait until my detectives hear of your success, Frank and Joe. They"ll be thunderstruck!"
Johnny said admiringly, "I"d sure like to learn from the Hardys how to solve mysteries!"
Mr Jefferson eyed his grandson proudly. "I underestimated you, son. You can take care of yourself."
Johnny beamed, then said worriedly, "You should see the cabin, Gramp. The storm did a lot of damage."
"No matter," replied the old man. "We"ll start repairs and improvements this spring." He turned to the Hardys. "I want you both to feel free to stay on the island any time you wish to. Johnny and I are going there as soon as possible together - that is, if he"ll take me along when he gets his new ice-yacht."
"Gramp! Do you mean it?"
"Indeed I do! Since my ride in the Seagull, I"ve been looking forward to another spin on the ice."
Frank and Joe exchanged smiles. Mr Jefferson was not so oldfashioned after all! Their sleuthing had done something to change his att.i.tude. The young detectives did not know that events were already occurring which would soon involve them in another challenging case, The Mark on the Door.